With yesterday’s release of iOS 8.1 with Apple Pay, shoppers can now experience the convenience of making payments with the touch of a finger at over 220,000 stores in the U.S. (and possibly elsewhere) outfitted with NFC contactless terminals.

Apple mays start providing after-sales service for Beats headphones and speakers soon, according to a report from Greek technology blog TechInGreek.com [Google Translate] which dug up an internal document showing that Apple Service Providers in the country are gearing up to provide service for Beats Electronics gear.

If authorized Service Providers are going to be adding Beats after-sales service, Apple should follow suit.

Indeed, “in the near future, Apple will be responsible for providing service to customers with Beats Electronics products and accessories,” reads the memo Apple sent out to its Service Providers. Read More

Apple issued a support document Wednesday night detailing a “workaround” on how to revert back to iOS 8 for those users that were affected by the release of iOS 8.0.1 earlier in the day, an update which incapacitated iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus devices.

Besides providing instructions on how to downgrade to iOS 8, the company noted that it is “preparing iOS 8.0.2 with a fix for the issue, and will release it as soon as it’s ready in the next few days.” Read More

The decision to give away the Irish rock band’s latest album has backfired because having added it to purchase history has automatically downloaded the album for folks with automatic music downloads enabled in Settings. Read More

Well, it had to happen someday. Call it a stroke of bad luck or inattention on my part, but it only took a fraction of a second for my shiny new iPhone 5s to slip out of my hand and fall on the concrete face down, just a few short weeks after purchasing the device! For the record, I am the type of person who handles my devices with utmost care so you could imagine my sorrow and feel my heartache.

Now I’m left with a pricey device that has a damaged screen with nasty cracks appearing all the way down to the steel Touch ID ring. A quote my nearest Apple Store gave me for an out of warranty screen replacement was just unbearable. And, it would take them at least a week to, or even more, to service the device, which was unacceptable to me.

Worse, iFixit at the time didn’t yet sell an iPhone 5s screen replacement kit. In addition, history has taught me all to well to avoid inexpensive screens sold on eBay. More often than not, these third-party components don’t hold a candle to Apple’s Retina screen in terms of color accuracy, overall image quality and touch sensing.

At the end of June, San Francisco held its 44th annual Pride parade where people from all around the world marched to show their support of the LGBT community. Several tech companies, including Apple, participated in the event.

CEO Tim Cook, Environment Director Lisa Jackson and thousands of other employees were in attendance, and Apple tonight posted a video of the parade. Dubbed ‘Pride,’ the clip celebrates the iPad-maker’s commitment to equality… Read More

As we outlined in a report earlier this month, Apple has gone ahead and doubled the AppleCare+ purchase window for new iPhones and iPads. Customers are now eligible to purchase AppleCare+ for their new iPhone and iPad up to 60 days after purchasing the device, whereas it was previously 30 days. AppleCare+ extends Apple’s 90-day complimentary support to two years and includes accidental damage coverage.

AppleCare+ costs $99 for both the iPhone and iPad plans, purchasable through the Apple Store both in-store and online. Apple has updated its website to reflect the new 60-day policy that is now in effect in all regions outside of Japan, where the 30-day window remains. These changes do not apply to Macs, iPods or any other Apple products outside of the iPhone and iPad… Read More

Following a report yesterday regarding incoming improvements to the AppleCare program and its customer support tools, Apple has rolled out an update to its Support Communities website that includes a fresh new design.

The new look is cleaner and more streamlined than its predecessor, which makes for easier navigation, and it extends throughout the portal. It even reaches the forums, where users congregate to resolve various problems… Read More

According to the well-connected blogger Mark Gurman, citing Apple employees that wish to remain anonymous, Apple Vice President of AppleCare and technical support Tara Bunch held a Town Hall meeting this week for AppleCare employees. At the meeting, several upcoming improvements to AppleCare+ and other support platforms were outlined.

Bunch hinted that AppleCare+ may be expanded to additional countries, although it is a challenging process because of the insurance and government-related legal processes that vary between countries worldwide. Bunch also told employees that Apple is testing a pilot program to expand the eligibility window for purchasing AppleCare+ to 60 days. Several other changes are incoming… Read More

Apple Friday announced a replacement program for certain USB iPhone power adapters sold in Europe and elsewhere that “may overheat and pose a safety risk”. The affected adapters that carry a model number of A1300 have been recalled and will be replaced with a new variant, the A1400 model.

According to the firm’s official statement, the five-watt Apple European USB power adapter that “in rare cases” may overheat came with the iPhone 3Gs, iPhone 4 and iPhone 4s units.

These iPhones shipped from October 2009 to September 2012 to a total of 45 countries, mostly European. The broken adapter was sold as a standalone accessory, too… Read More

The United States wireless carrier Sprint, the nation’s third-largest, on Monday introduced a new equipment protection plan that offers additional protection for your tablet and smartphone devices for an additional two bucks per month. The Sprint Total Equipment Protection Plus (TEP Plus) plan costs thirteen bucks per month, per device.

It offers everything included in Sprint’s existing $11 per month Total Equipment Protection – theft insurance, accidental damage and next-day loss, to name a few – and then some more: data security, personalized tech support and automatic media backups.

Perhaps the key headline feature of the newly-released OS X Mavericks 10.9.3 is proper support for external 4K monitors. Previously, Mavericks would render text, icons and other user interface elements as-is, so everything appeared tiny due to the densely packed pixels on 4K monitors.

OS X 10.9.3 uses pixel-doubling to enable a true Retina experience where the size of the user interface does not change, it’s just a lot sharper because OS X has a lot more pixels per square inch to work with.

Apple has now refreshed its support document with detailed information regarding compatible 4K monitors, display modes, video interfaces and Macs… Read More

Earlier today, we talked about something called the iMessage purgatory syndrome. A common problem for one-time iPhone users that have since switched to an Android-based smartphone or other device is that their phone number is still linked to iMessage. The person might then be unable to receive messages from other iPhone users, since the iMessages are never able to be delivered.

Apple is aware of the issue, and has a team of engineers tasked with identifying a solution. In the meantime, if you are someone in this situation, there is actually a very simple method to disassociate your phone number with iMessage. It will take just a few minutes or less. Read ahead for step-by-step instructions on how to remove a phone number from iMessage…

Apple last week put forth a new replacement program dealing with the malfunctioning sleep/wake button on some iPhone 5 devices.

Apple has confirmed that “a small percentage” of iPhone 5 models manufactured through March 2013 exhibit an issue where the button may stop working or work intermittently and the firm has moved quickly to allow for free sleep/wake button replacements on the affected handsets.

It’s now come to light that Apple’s brick-and-mortar stores will also treat owners of the affected iPhone 5 handsets to an extra $80 when they trade in their device, although employees were instructed not to advertise this benefit actively… Read More

According to BEEKn.net, Apple has now released detailed specification for the iBeacon platform. Released through Apple’s ‘Made for iPhone’ (MFi) initiative, the documents are apparently separate from Apple’s main Bluetooth MFi specification.. Read More

Apple has offered up an interesting remedy to a persisting bug plaguing the OS X 10.9 Mavericks Mail application which manifests itself by preventing the app from receiving any new messages until it is quit and reopened. Apple’s workaround solution is a primitive one, albeit effective.

In recent months, Apple has been making various moves to make its users more aware of its self-help options. Last month, it updated its Genius Bar reservation page with a link to its online support portal to give customers the option to ‘save a trip to the store.’

And today, Apple has updated its online support portal to make it more user-friendly with a new, simpler design. The UI now looks more in line with iOS 7, with large, sharp images on a white background, and makes the page much easier for customers to navigate… Read More

Apple products, for the most part, have a reputation of ‘just working.’ The company controls the entire experience, from hardware to software, and takes other measures to ensure that there is little room for consumer error.

But as with all electronics, sometimes things don’t just work and you need help. And while Apple is known for its in-store Genius service, it’s launched a new initiative encouraging users to stay home and get help online… Read More

Apple has updated its support site this week with a new feature allowing users to initiate screen-sharing with AppleCare representatives when receiving Mac help via phone call. This option was previously reserved for reps only.

But enabling customers to initiate screen-sharing with a support tech will one, give them more control over their overall support experience, and two, help facilitate quicker, more accurate responses from Apple’s support staff… Read More